The Nest (Redgates)
Built mid 18th century
Demolished November 1936
The Nest, later called Redgates, was built in the middle of the 18th Century and was demolished in 1936 to make way for 56 Baston Road and Redgate Drive. Its first known occupant was John Hinton who died in 1781. He was the 18th century publisher of the Universal Magazine, first published in 1747: a journal ‘of knowledge and pleasure, and other sciences which may render it instructive and entertaining to country merchants, farmers and tradesmen’.
He married widow Elizabeth Austen in 1750 and her niece Leonora also lived with them. In 1765 he was allowed to enclose a portion of the waste ground to the south of his house for the annual rent of 2/6d (12½p). John Hinton was a generous supporter of Hayes Church giving a Reading Desk & books to it in 1779. When he died he left a legacy of £20 for the benefit of the poor of Hayes, some of which was given in cash and the rest used to buy stockings and material to make clothing.
Elizabeth continued to live in the house with two male and two female servants until she married Stephen Cumberlege in 1783 and moved to Islington. The house was let to Mr and Mrs Broderick. She died suddenly in 1784 and her widower continued to let the Nest until it was sold to Mr Jones and subsequently bought by Sir Vicary Gibbs of Hayes Court in 1797.
The Gibbs family owned the property until the 20th century and leased it out.
19th Century Tenants
Widow Elizabeth Margetson moved to the property in 1800 from Street House, Hayes and lived there with five servants until her death in 1839. In her will she left many bequests including a chess table to Lady Gibbs of Hayes Court, a pair of bracelets from Rome to Marianne Fraser of the Grove and other pieces of jewellery to Mary Ward of Baston Manor.
Her successor was Captain Thomas Henry Sparke Thompson, his wife Henrietta and their three young children and three servants. They left the Nest when he was promoted to Commander and put in charge of HMS Comus stationed near Buenos Aires.
The next family to move into the Nest were Lydia and Revd William Drummond. She was the daughter of Samuel Nevil Ward of Baston Manor. After her death in 1857, Revd Drummond continued to live there until 1866 when a widow Eliza Henry took out a 12 year lease at £65 a year. She agreed to spend £400 on repairs or additions to the house. Her land covered 6 acres. She had a six year old son, three female servants and a young boy who acted as a page and a groom.
Huson Morris, son of Dr Thomas Morris of Baston Farm, took over the lease in 1879. His wife Elizabeth had just given birth to their first daughter Ella and while they were living at the Nest they had a further two sons and three daughters. Their staff included a nurse and nursemaid until the children were grown up. By 1901 only their 20 year old daughter Hilda was still at home but they had five resident servants – a cook, lady’s maid, two housemaids and a kitchen maid. In 1901 Huson inherited Five Elms and left the Nest in 1904.
Henry Wellcome, co-founder of Burroughs Wellcome, leased the Nest from 1904 – 1913 and moved in from the Oast House, Croydon Road, Hayes with his wife Syrie and son Mounteney. The rent was £143 a year. The house and grounds covered about 6 acres and its gross value was £3671 in 1913.
The ground floor plan shows the additions to the building that had taken place between the tithe map in 1841 and 1913, most notably the addition of the bay windows to the drawing and dining rooms.
Henry Bevington Legge and his wife Edith moved to the Nest in 1913 from Sundridge Avenue, Bromley, where they were listed in the 1911 census with three children and five resident servants. Both he and his young sons Philip and Geoffrey occasionally played for Hayes Cricket Club. Geoffrey became a well known cricketer, later captaining Kent 1928 – 30 and playing for the MCC in their tours of South Africa 1927-8 and New Zealand in 1929. (History of Hayes Cricket Club 1828 – 1878 by P.A.Thompson). In 1921 the Legges moved to Baston Manor
The Nest renamed Redgates in 1921
Henry Arthur and Margaret Payne moved to the Nest and changed its name to Redgates. Henry was a joint permanent secretary at the Board of Trade, involved in the Paris Peace Conference and in 1923 a key adviser at Lausanne in the negotiations with Turkey.. He was knighted in 1925 and in 1928 seconded as an adviser to the Egyptian Government on Trade and Commerce. He died suddenly at Redgates in September 1931 possibly from an illness contracted in Egypt.
Lucy Annesley, a dog breeder of Golden Retrievers, was the last occupant in 1933. In July 1936 she agreed that she would move to 85 Baston Road, a new house built for her by local builders W W Courtenay Ltd. The builders then pulled down Redgates and began to build the Redgate Drive Estate comprising 14 exclusive houses.